Monday, January 11, 2016

E-mail dated 1/11/16

Family and Friends,
Akwaabo! Another week has passed here in Liberia, but this one seemed to go by extremely fast. Thank you to every one who prayed for me and gave me some words of encouragement this week, it means a lot! I know everyone is busy with school and work and other things, but it's always nice knowing that my family is safe and happy.

My week was an eventful one as usual! But do you want to know the greatest part? It was freezing cold on Wednesday and Thursday!! Seriously, I was cuddled up in my blanket all night and I was still cold. I heard that the low was almost 70 degrees! All of the Americans were so happy those two days, while every African was so upset haha. It was also the most modest day in the history of Liberia, which made missionary work a bit easier! 

The rest of the week was spent preparing a few of our investigators for baptism and doing interviews for some of the district leaders in our zone! It was an interesting experience though as I went on exchanges on Saturday and Sunday with a missionary that has been really struggling with his companion recently. I can remember times when I was new to the mission field and I felt really inadequate and I could relate a lot to this Elder. I learned a lot from him the two days that we were together!

I have a few more things I probably wanted to say, but I'll try and say them in the answers to your questions!

1.  About how many people do you have at Church on Sundays?  How many are members and how many are investigators?  
We usually have around 10 investigators at sacrament meeting! It's not quite as crazy as Paynesville was, but I realize how blessed we are. As for as total attendance, my guess would be around 100 people in our small rented building every week! There are 4 Elders in New Georgia though, Elder Cichoski and me, and Elder Hawkins and Elder Mehnpaine. 

2.  Did you get to return to Paynesville for the District Conference?  If so, how is everyone doing?  Did President Carlson make it back?
I didn't go back to Paynesville, but we all met in town for our district conference! It was so awesome because I got to see all of my recent converts!!! Everyone is doing so well, and I even got to see some of my investigators that I left there that got baptized after I left. President and Sister Carlson were there, as well as Elder and Sister Stanfill of the Seventy. We will actually be having MLC with both of them tomorrow, so I'm excited about that!

3.  Josh and I were talking the other day about what will be the first thing you will want to eat when you come home.  I know this is a long ways off, but we kind of have our guesses.  If you had to chose today, what would you choose to eat?  

I have actually thought about it, and as of right now I'm planning on a Cafe Rio burrito!! Ahhh I want one so badly. I might have to hold off on the cheese though...

4.  This is a weird question, but when was the last time you laughed with your companion and why?  What makes you laugh in your area and how do you keep light-hearted?

I laugh with Elder Cichoski all the time! Normally it's because we'll be walking and just talking and telling stories to each other all day, but there's also a lot of times that we can just sit and laugh about the cultural things of Africa. For example, we cannot figure out why in the world it's acceptable to call someone fat in a casual conversation! Some people can just walk up to you and say "You're looking very fat today!" and that always gets a laugh out of me and my companion!

5.  What do most people do for work in your area?
Most people have small provision shops, or they sell things at the market. Most of them are very poor in the main part of my area, but there are some places in the estates that are owned by police officers and business people. Overall though, it's a very poor area!

6.  Are you feeling better?  What is most common sickness you see in the people there and other missionaries?  
Oh yeah, I'm doing much better! After doing a deep cleaning of our apartment, everyone seemed to magically get better. We may or may not have neglected our cleaning duties for a few weeks....

7.  Are there any investigators or other missionaries that we could be praying for?
Please pray for the Dahn family. We are really focusing of them now, and they have come across some obstacles in their path to marriage and baptism. It turns out that the wife es planning on going to the US soon and wants to postpone the marriage until after she gets back, which could be in a few years. We have been trying to convince here that the gospel is what will make her happy, not America, but she doesn't seem to believe that. Your prayers would be much appreciated for her!

Anyways, thank you all very much for all that you have done for me. It very comforting knowing that I have so many people back home that love and care about me. I can hear your prayers being answering everyday. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Degen

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